Mobilizing a Mission Force in Mexico

From Mission Field to Mission Force

At the first COMIBAM conference of Latin American leaders in São Paolo, Brazil, in 1987, missions statesman Luis Bush declared that Latin America was no longer a “mission field,” but rather a “mission force.” We have been mobilizing that mission force in Puebla, Mexico, since 2015. In 2018, we began meeting monthly in our seminary to equip representatives of churches started by Avant to reach their communities locally, and to send missionaries globally.

The Power of the Missional Network

We have seen special interest in the collective events of our Missional Network, such as mission trips and mission conferences. Last October, we invited COMIMEX (the Mexican chapter of COMIBAM) to help us during a Missional Expo with Bible teaching on God’s mission, practical workshops for involvement in missions, and testimonies of Mexicans who have been serving on the mission field. Over 180 people from about 20 local churches participated.

Equipping the Local Church

A natural tendency of our Missional Network in Puebla is to do combined events, but we are also challenging each of our nine churches to develop their own missional strategy. The Bethel Bible Church recently joined our Network, and Pastor Moses Torres shared with me his journey of discovering the role of missions in his church.

Pastor Moses walks with crutches following a childhood bout with polio, but his dynamic ministry has not been limited in any way. Luis, a young Mexican man with a degree in video production, became an appointee with Avant to produce resources to reach Muslims in North Africa. I encouraged Luis to contact our Bible churches in Puebla to invite them to join his support team. When he contacted Pastor Moses, he was invited to share his ministry at the Bethel Church, and they decided to support Luis as their first missionary.

Reaching the Unreached in Oaxaca

Later, an Avant missionary couple from Bolivia, Juan Pablo and Annemarie, arrived in Mexico and connected with Pastor Moses. This young couple has strengthened the mission vision of the Bethel Church through Bible teaching. In November 2024, the church sent five members on a mission trip with our network to an area of Oaxaca, only a five-hour drive from Puebla, near 14 Mixteco ethnic groups who have no church in their language or culture. That experience impacted the entire team! They returned to this area in May 2025 with others from the Bethel Church to serve alongside Ruben, a Mexican missionary in the Atatlahuca ethnic group. He is planting a new church in another community to reach the extended family of a Mixteco leader that grew up there.

Cultivating a Culture of Discipleship

We attend the Safe Refuge Church in Puebla, and since 2022 we have seen God strengthen their global vision through monthly missions Sundays. During these services, the pastor teaches on passages that encourage our growing vision to impact the world. We also share a brief update from one of the five Mexican missionary families we support, and we pray for them. Finally, we receive a monthly offering for their financial support. Another aspect of our missional church is a culture of relational discipleship that produces disciple-makers. This is the best context to identify and prepare our own missionary candidates.

Future Steps of the Missional Network

In 2024, one of the pastors in our Missional Network proposed a step forward—that every church plan a missional event to involve their members in God’s mission. Our network provides assistance that any church can request for their event. This pastor also suggested that every church give a monthly amount to the network to help cover costs of each church’s event and to support our missionaries. This has encouraged all of our churches in regular missions giving. This plan worked so well in 2024 that we are continuing this year with missional events in every church as well as monthly giving to our mission fund.

It is exciting to see God raise up a mission force in Latin America! At the fifth COMIBAM conference that we attended in Panama in April 2025, we celebrated the 34,000 Latin missionaries who have been sent around the world from Latin America—praise God! This former “mission field” has indeed become a “missions force”

Ways to Help

Prayer

• Pray for open hearts to the gospel among the 27 ethnic groups in Mexico that have no church in their language or culture.
• Pray that Avant in Mexico will equip and send Mexican missionary candidates to join Avant church planting teams around the world.
• Pray that the church in Mexico will be faithful in supporting their own missionaries among the unreached.

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